Brian Lowry

The movie does contain an empowering message thanks to its gender distinction, which is thrown into sharper focus by the period. Yet while it's a welcome landmark, Marvel and Disney's ambitious plans will almost surely reduce that status to a historical footnote.

If the first mission made roughly $50 million domestically, the sky could be the limit for this much better sequel -- a clever spoof of "Rambo" and a dozen other movies that employs the usual scattershot "Airplane!" approach but boasts a higher shooting percentage than its forebear. Look out, comedy fans: Fox is coming to get you.

How to Survive a Pandemic is a poor title for a mostly fascinating documentary, whose flaws reflect its slightly fragmented nature. Yet at its core this HBO presentation captures the race to produce a vaccine amid political pressures imposed by a president preoccupied with his reelection, offering fly-on-the-wall access to many of the key players.

Confess, Fletch doesn’t possess a whole lot of heft, but it manages to serve as an old-fashioned and playful star vehicle, carving out a version of the character that’s distinctive from Chase’s broader, more slapstick-oriented take.

Park and Wong are both innately likable, which makes the movie pleasant enough to watch, but also a bit of a slog given the ostensible inevitability of where it's heading.

What really makes The Truth About Cats & Dogs special in places however, is Garofalo's dry, self-effacing wit and Thurman's ditzy, old-style Hollywood glamour.

The Pursuit of Happyness is more inspirational than creatively inspired -- imbued with the kind of uplifting, afterschool-special qualities that can trigger a major toothache.

Wolfgang nicely demonstrates how its namesake fundamentally impacted the world of cooking – and especially how high-end food is perceived – while carving out a pretty sweet life for himself in the process. For that alone it’s worth watching, even if, as documentaries go, it’s less a main course than an appetizer.

What Bombshell briskly details is how and why Fox News -- and those who possessed the grit to stand up -- came under that unwelcome spotlight, one brick, and abuse, at a time.

This is an especially limp star vehicle that delivers a few widely spaced moments of frivolity before what should be a quick mop-up trip to the DVD aisles.

"Elvis” has entered the theaters, but in a package that often recalls the excesses associated with his Vegas-residency years: Looking bloated, gaudy and at times bordering on self-parody. Those missteps, courtesy of director Baz Luhrmann and an ill-used Tom Hanks, squander Austin Butler’s brilliant moments in the title role, which deserve a much better movie.

The film, while technically superb, feels like it wins several battles but doesn’t entirely qualify as a success in terms of the overall war.

In hindsight, the most unlikely hit among Marvel’s parade of them was all about the unlikeliest of families. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 drives home that point, with a boisterous and often emotional sequel that feels very much like a true conclusion, fueled in no small part by writer-director James Gunn having migrated his talents over to rival DC.

A warm if somewhat flat trip back in time that approximates the feel of the show's Christmas specials, only over-sized, and as cozy as a seat by the manor's fire.

Africa's enduring sorrow is ripe for drama, but Blood Diamond is, finally, a fitting metaphor for the gems: Potentially brilliant from a distance, but upon closer inspection, one likely will see the flaws.

Despite flashes of nudity, crudity and mockery of women's raging hormones at the first sight of a trousseau, at its core it's just a big pushover with the heart of a chick flick.

The writing and twists elevated this to a spot among the master of suspense's best. [15 Aug 2019]

Wispy at best, this romantic comedy from a first-time director and screenwriter feels as if whole chunks have been left on the cutting-room floor, with what remains mustering intermittent charm thanks to the attractiveness, if not chemistry, of Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker.

There's a good movie to be made about a woman wading into late-night TV's headwinds -- both in front of and behind the curtain. Despite solid moments, Late Night isn't consistently it.

Greyhound is kind of an odd duck -- another World War II tale courtesy of Tom Hanks, who wrote and produced the film through his company in addition to starring in it. Old-fashioned and relatively small in scale, it's a sturdy if unspectacular depiction of the Battle of the Atlantic, streaming ashore via Apple TV+ instead of a planned theatrical release.

Stallone (who looks fit but mostly keeps his shirt on) has no intention of bogging the action down, but it's still a notably cheerless exercise, without knowing winks or stabs (pardon the expression) at humor. It is in all respects, rather, a completely workmanlike effort.

Loaded with the usual barrage of irreverent, politically incorrect and virtually non-stop gags. Director Peter Segal and writers Pat Proft, David Zucker and Robert LoCash succumb to occasional bouts of toilet humor, but there’s also some extended hilarity in a scene set around the Academy Awards.

While the film traffics in thoughtful ideas as well as spectacle, it doesn’t complete the vital emotional connections between its head and its heart.

Strums the genre for considerable laughs, with John C. Reilly playing the title balladeer from teen to senior citizen, generating enough goodwill to offset the flat sections and a decidedly juvenile streak.

The Guilty is a taut, remarkably spare thriller.

The story plays like a rather tired excuse to redo the first story with a few cosmetic tweaks, hoping to tap into adult nostalgia while potentially attracting a new generation of kids.

While “Honk for Jesus” isn’t a perfect movie, give it praise for at least being an interesting one.

Elegant, occasionally adorable and at times quite emotional, series creator Julian Fellowes still knows how to pluck the right strings – upstairs and downstairs – to play a symphony with his sprawling cast.